Marianne Williams Tobias, a champion of the arts and education in Indianapolis who perhaps became best known for her advocacy of classical music and her decades-long association with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, died Wednesday. She was 82.
An influential philanthropist, Tobias served on the boards of a wide array of not-for-profits in central Indiana and beyond, including the ISO, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana Arts Council, IndyBaroque, Dance Kaleidoscope, Park Tudor School, the Indiana University Foundation, Schubert Club of St. Paul Minnesota, The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and Chamber Music America in New York City.
But she first gained public notice as a piano soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at age 12 under the baton of Fabien Sevitzky. She performed again under the direction of ISO conductor and music director Raymond Leppard in 1995. In the intervening years, she became the resident program annotator for the ISO—a role that she played for more than 35 years.
“The ISO owes a debt of gratitude to Marianne for her unwavering commitment to our mission,” ISO CEO James Johnson wrote in tribute to Tobias after her death.
“Marianne endowed numerous chairs and performances throughout her long relationship with the ISO. Her generous annual support enabled the ISO to continue our vital work as a cultural pillar of artistic excellence in our community and beyond,” Johnson said.
She was a regular guest and music critic for radio station WFYI-FM for more than 10 years on “The Music Room,” and contributed program notes for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Music Society, and Arabesque Recordings.
Tobias grew up in Meridian-Kessler at 4747 N. Meridian St., attending Orchard School for kindergarten through 8th grade and then Tudor Hall for high school.
When she was 16, her father—prominent local businessman Russell Williams—died in an airplane crash at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Marianne was supposed to accompany her father on that trip, but she had to decline after it coincided with a school exam.
“Life seemed very secure up to that point,” Tobias told Indianapolis Monthly in 1998. “But after that, life never seemed secure again.”
She graduated with honors from Harvard University in 1962. She later graduated from a three-year piano program at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received an MFA and Ph.D from the University of Minnesota.
She married two of the most influential business leaders in Indianapolis’ modern history. In 1989, she wed former high school sweetheart Frank McKinney Jr., an Olympic gold-medal swimmer and chairman of Bank One Indiana. He died in a mid-air plane crash in 1992.
She married Eli Lilly and Co. CEO Randall Tobias in 1994. They divorced in 2009.
With both husbands, Marianne made significant gifts to local arts institutions. The fruit of those gifts include the Randall L. and Marianne Tobias Theater at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
As a philanthropist, she also was a founding member of the Women in Philanthropy at Indiana University; endowed the Russel and Mary Williams Learning Center at Park Tudor School, the organ at the Gothic Chapel at Crown Hill, the lobby at the Hilbert Circle Theater and the Frank McKinney Fountain at Indiana University; and underwrote the first prize for numerous International Violin Competitions.
In 2013, she helped Indianapolis-based Eskenazi Health launch the Marianne Tobias Music Program, which provided weekly live music performances for patients, staff and visitors.
She also authored several books, including “Introduction to Musical Instruments” (for children), “Classical Music without Fear: A Guide for General Audiences,” and “Opera for All Seasons: 60 Years of Indiana University Opera Theater.”
Tobias is survived by her son, James Ullyot, and daughter, Kathryn Hundley, and her grandchildren Ashley, Annie and Reece Ullyot; and Lily and Rosemary Hundley.
A visitation will take place from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. on Wednesday at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N. Meridian St.
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